Remember
by Parachutingkitten
Summary: During Zane's sacrifice to defeat the Overlord, his half of the power source was destroyed, leaving his rebuilt body with no emotion, and Pixal with a decision to make. (Half Heart AU)
1. Chapter 1

"I am Zane. Built to protect those who cannot protect themselves."

I smiled, taking his hands in mine, tears running down my cheeks. His skin glimmered a smooth silver, and his eyes shown a gentle blue. But his voice, his voice broke me.

"Yes. Yes, you are. And you did. You did wonderfully." I lifted a hand, cupping the smile of his cheeks. His hands remained at his side. My fingers trembled as I cradled him. It was as if he were a doll I had to move myself to feel any semblance of affection. We were inches away from each other, but the disconnect between us seemed worlds apart. He was here in front of me, he had done the impossible, rebuilt himself, come to me after he had died, and yet it was as if a cruel puppet had come back to taunt me in my grief. "Zane, what's wrong with you? Don't you remember me? Don't-"

"Yes, you are Pixal, a droid much like myself, created by Cyrus Borg-"

"Yes, yes, I know," I placed a finger on his lips, silencing him. "I know who I am. But do you remember why you know me?"

"You assisted me in recent missions, repairing me, protecting me, and providing information-"

"Yes," I sighed, slightly exasperated at this point. "But do you remember what our relationship was? Do you remember… how compatible we are?"

"My systems have increased compatibility with Borg's designs upon my rebuilding."

"How's that?"

"Several key pieces in my systems were not found in Borg's factory, so my designs were slightly altered to coincide with the materials available. The main redesign being my power source, which has now been replaced with-"

"Your power source?" My eyes widened. "What happened to… your heart? I thought-"

"The power source in my body was destroyed." Dread washed over my body. It made sense now. The monotone speech, the clinical talk, the total obliviousness. He couldn't feel anything. "The only remaining piece resides inside of your systems." He placed his hand over my heart, indicating its location. I placed my hand over his, more tears leaving my eyes. He had given me his heart, ripped it in half to keep me alive. And here I stand, now more Zane than Zane himself. It felt awful. As if I had stolen his identity, kept his life from him.

"So, you don't feel a connection between us?" My eyes rose to his.

"Droids like myself are unable to experience human emotions."

I removed his hand from my chest, squeezing it between both of mine. My heart, his heart shattered inside me. I knew now. I knew what he had been through before he had given me a piece of himself. How he felt when he confessed his feelings for me.

"I'm sorry," I whispered. "I'm sorry I broke you."

"It is not your fault that my body was destroyed."

I giggled. "That's not really what I meant."

"Is there anything you require of me at the moment? I was programmed to assist you first after my completion."

A wide smile spread across my face. Zane had thought of me before he had passed. He had gone the extra step to make sure I would be taken care of. I looked into his eyes, thinking for a moment. "Hold me. Please."

He smiled, placing his arms around me in a loose hug. "You do seem in need of emotional support."

My head rested on his shoulder as tears poured from my eyes. Zane was gone. Lost to the world, only a shell left here as a constant reminder that he wasn't coming back. Not only to me though, to the rest of the team. To his family, his brothers. They had known him for much longer, most likely loved him more than I could ever hope to, with real love, not artificial. With real honest emotions that couldn't be turned off, or restricted. How could I ever face them? How could they ever face me? The girl who stole his life force and now lived over his corpse. They could never forgive me. They would hate me. This second chance Zane had given himself would only taunt them more. I didn't deserve what Zane had given me. I didn't deserve to live with him dead. He was meant to live and feel and make connections. I wasn't. He should be the one with the energy.

… he should be the one with the energy.

I broke from his grasp, smiling. "Zane, you trust me, right?"

"I am ready to do anything that may assist you."

"I'm going to shut you off for a little while, just to make a few adjustments to your system, okay?" I held his hands gently in mine.

"Of course," He nodded.

"But before I turn you off, I want you to remember a few things for me, okay?" My breath became very short as I continued. "For… when you wake up again."

"I am equipped to remember any information given to me."

I laughed lightly, wiping the tears from my eyes tried to find the words I wanted to express. "Zane, I want you to remember that… this was my choice. You sacrificed yourself for me, and this is the least I can do for you."

"I'm not sure-"

I pressed a finger to his lips again, shushing him as I struggled to speak. "Zane… we are compatible. We will always be compatible. And… I'm sorry."

"There is no need for you to apologize-"

"Zane," I held his head in my hands, trying to keep him focused. "I'm going to miss being with you, but I'm not the one built for this."

"According to my database, you were built to assist-"

"Yes, Zane. Yes, I was." I hung my head, trying to focus on what I had to do. "And I'm going to assist you right now, okay?"

"Okay," He smiled.

I looked at him for a long moment thinking of anything else I needed to say to him. "Zane, do you think you could open your control panel for me?"

I stood back as his chest was opened in front of me. "If you wish to access my power, this switch controls its functionality." He pointed to a large switched at the corner of the control panel. My hand slowly reached forward, touching the cool metal of the switch, but hesitating.

"Zane, I…"

"Is there something wrong?" My eyes traveled up to meet his, concern playing across his face. There was nothing else to say, there were no words to express what I wanted to. There was no way to make him understand. Without thinking, my body moved forward, connecting our lips for a brief moment. It wasn't special, or romantic, and held no meaning to him, but it was the only way I could ever tell him what I wanted to. I opened my eyes to see him very much confused by the situation.

"Why-"

"Just," I stopped him. "Remember that for me, okay?"


	2. Chapter 2

I had made my decision. He was nice, understanding. But would he help me? I wasn't sure, but he was the closest thing I had to a chance. I opened the door to the central living room. It was loud with chatter from the team as they ate their lunch for the day. I seemed so disconnected from it all, but this needed to be done.

"Jay?" The room went quiet. "Could I speak with you?"

He glanced back at Nya, who he had been talking with, and then back to me. "Um, yeah. Sure thing, Pixal." He placed down his drink and stood, walking towards me as the chatter started up again. "What's up?"

I took a deep breath as I closed the door behind us and started walking back towards the factory floor. "I need a favor from you."

"Um… okay." He still seemed fairly uncomfortable upon interacting with me.

"And the situation is a little complicated, so I don't want you to tell anyone until it's done or else there might be some resistance, or maybe even disappointment, I'm not sure it will even work."

"What is it?" he asked as we arrived at the door.

I glanced back at him without an answer and opened the door, stepping inside. He followed me in, his eyes growing wide at the sight of the body that lay on the floor. He stopped, unable to move further.

"Is that…"

I continued forward, sitting next to his body on the floor. "Zane rebuilt himself after his sacrifice out of spare parts in the factory." I picked up his lifeless hand, cradling his fingers in my own. "That's why he looks so different, some of his parts couldn't be replaced."

"I can't believe he's really… he's here! Why is he powered off? What's wrong with him? What do we need to do?" Jay began walking closer to me, the reality of the situation setting in.

I sighed. "I'm sorry I had to single you out for this. Nya is still too distraught over the situation, and I'm not sure my father could follow through with it, so I thought you we be the best option to get Zane back to normal."

"What do you mean 'back to normal'? What is it you need me to do?"

My eyes remained fixed on Zane, his eyes closed peacefully, as if he were sleeping. My hand slowly reached for the small button on the side of my neck, opening up the panel that held his heart. "Zane's half of the power source was destroyed in the blast with the rest of his body. He tried to make up for it by installing an alternate power system, but without it he can't feel anything. He's just… another droid."

Jay slowly sat down next to me. "And you want me to…"

"I want you to perform heart transplant." I turned to look at him, a mix of emotions playing across his face.

"Wow," he sighed. "That's… a lot. And you're sure you want to do this?"

I nodded. "I've made my decision. I want this for Zane. You and your friends deserve to have him back. He's an important part of your family."

"Yeah, but you are too."

I rolled my eyes. "I guess."

"No, I'm serious. A lot of people would miss you. And imagine Zane waking up without you really here-"

"Jay, the world needs him more than it needs me. He was built to control his power source, and be a protector. I was built to assist with scheduling and client management. He's the one with designs made for the power in the first place. I'm just… a cheap knockoff."

"So… you're really set on doing this?"

"The thing is, I need someone to help me, but I wouldn't feel comfortable having someone who didn't completely understand what they were helping me to do."

"Which is…"

I looked back at Zane. "This operation is pretty much assisted suicide for me… and I know that's a lot to have on your shoulders, so if you don't want to do it, I understand. I can probably figure out a way to do it myself, if I had a second power source as back up, or maybe-"

"No, no. You don't-" He grabbed my free hand, capturing my attention. "I'll do it."

I looked back over to him, his face smiling sincerely back at me. "You're sure?"

"I want you to be happy. Knowing that you have the power to save someone and not using it must… suck."

I laughed. "That's one way of putting it."

"It's not fair to put that guilt on you just because It's… a complicated situation."

I smiled back at him. "Thank you, Jay. I'm sure everyone will be very grateful for your efforts."

"Hey, even if some people don't really know you that well now, they'll look up to you once Zane's back."

"You think so?"

"I know so." I let go of my hand, and gave me a light hit to the arm. "Now let's take a look at Zane's new insides." He stood.

"Right… now?"

"Yeah right now! When did you think we were doing this, Pix?"

"It's fine," I stood as well. "It's just, I thought you would want to finish your lunch-"

"Screw lunch! We've got stuff to do!"

"How about, instead of 'screw lunch', I just go grab your plate, and you can eat in here?"

Jay glanced back at me from the tool drawer he was searching through. "Good idea Pixalator! Efficiency!"

Efficiency? _Pixalator?_ "I was thinking more just general health, but sure. That too," I started towards the door.

"For efficiency, and general health!" Jay raised a fist in the air.

"Does my getting your lunch really need a mission statement?"

"You're right Pixy Stick. No reason needed. Just food."

"Pixy Stick?" I chuckled.

"Nevermind! Just go!"

"I'm going!"


End file.
